Forum Knife Updates and comments

Got mine yesterday. Overall like it. Scales don't match. Clip side really bland looking imo. But, that's the luck of the draw. Walk is ok, talk is good. Needs to be sharpened. No gaps. Easy to get a nail in longpulls. For $80 little to criticize. If this was a GEC would have been double the cost I'm sure. Elk wasn't one of my choices for materials so not 100% sure going to keep it but going to carry and see if grows on me. Thanks again to Skblades and Buck for doing this. If Buck is chosen to be the BF forum knife again will almost definitely be in.

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Ulf Krogstad said:
Got mine yesterday. Overall like it. Scales don't match. Clip side really bland looking imo. But, that's the luck of the draw. Walk is ok, talk is good. Needs to be sharpened. No gaps. Easy to get a nail in longpulls. For $80 little to criticize. If this was a GEC would have been double the cost I'm sure. Elk wasn't one of my choices for materials so not 100% sure going to keep it but going to carry and see if grows on me. Thanks again to Skblades and Buck for doing this. If Buck is chosen to be the BF forum knife again will almost definitely be in.

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Very nice looking knife. It's typical that both sides of a knife with elk, stag, etc. don't match. For me that's not a problem but for others, it's a deal breaker.
 
I got mine and am very satisfied with it. High character covers, well matched, proper thickness and well fitted to the bolsters, with nicely domed pins. Blades line up well with no rubs, pulls of 4½ to 5 with good snap, much peppier than most run of the mill 301s. Clip blade shaving sharp out of the box, the sheepfoot made so with very little effort, nice even grinds. This will get carried . . . a lot!

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Got my 2 in the mail Thursday, I’ve just been to busy to post. The best one of the two is put up with my collection. The elk on it is fantastic, the springs are flush open and closed except the sheepsfoot sits a little low while open. What little places the springs and liners have gaps, they are so minuscule at first glance you wouldn’t even notice them. The one I’ve chosen to carry has the same fit and finish as the safe queen down to the sheepsfoot blade spring sitting low when opened too. The elk isn't quite as fantastic to my eye but it’s not bad, just not as good as the other knife. Both came very sharp with the grinds all even. All in all, I’m very happy I bought two and wish I could have got more to use as gifts. Thanks to @skblades and Buck. With Buck’s forum knife this year with the traditional look and feel along with a more premium stainless steel and very reasonable price, I hope we get to see what else they can produce for a forum knife in the future. Pics of the one I’ll be carrying for awhile.

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jc57 said:
Here we go:

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jc57 said:
I suck at photography. No fancy light box or backgrounds like you kids have, and nothing but my cell phone ... I'll see what I can do.
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Very nice, John! :thumbsup::cool::thumbsup:
At my age, I'd give my left one to take photos like you do! :D

I'm interested in the potassium permanganate process, too, but I've got to admit to being puzzled about complaints that the elk isn't dark enough. I'm amazed at how dark the elk is on most of these knives!

Heck of a lot of beautiful knives in this thread!! :thumbsup::cool::cool::thumbsup:

- GT
 
5K Qs said:
Very nice, John! :thumbsup::cool::thumbsup:
At my age, I'd give my left one to take photos like you do! :D

I'm interested in the potassium permanganate process, too, but I've got to admit to being puzzled about complaints that the elk isn't dark enough. I'm amazed at how dark the elk is on most of these knives!

Heck of a lot of beautiful knives in this thread!! :thumbsup::cool::cool::thumbsup:

- GT
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I gave mine a light coat of Renaissance Wax first but I do that with all natural handle materials - seals and preserves and removes any excess dye. I didn't do anything else, coloration wise. I am used to seeing elk handles look pretty light in color, so I was pleasantly surprised with the natural darkness and texture. Also, they did a great job of making the scales thin without losing the outer texture.

Just all around a really great knife. I tried to touch up the sheepsfoot blade on a silicon carbide stone last night and I can't tell I even touched it. That is some impressive steel. I may have to get out the diamonds.
 
abcdef said:
That is a good idea. The porch is a friendly place. Are the Mods willing establish a W&C thread where people can express something less than positive opinions about an issue transpiring on the porch? Will anyone else reading this do it?
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"Good, Bad and Ugly" is a forum for feedback about knife sellers. If someone were to have Buck do warranty work on their knife, they could start a thread about the results, good or bad.

W&C is a forum for off-topic cussing and arguing. Hopefully, nothing posted on the porch needs to be moved over there.

JohnDF said:
I've found negative feedback to be fine here on The Porch, as long as it's warranted and polite.
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I agree. We are a very picky bunch. There may be a few members who haven't bought a knife costing under $100 in a long time, and have different expectations than others. It's one of the reasons GEC keeps getting chosen for the forum knife so often. While no production knife is perfect, they are very consistent in their quality. We mixed things up this year and chose Buck, we won't know until all the knives have arrived what percentage of us are very happy and how many of us are disappointed. I think we can all agree that @skblades has done a great job putting this together.
 
Modoc ED said:
What's that got to do with the price of tea in China? Whether someone is going to use a knife or not, has no bearing on comments whether favorable or unfavorable.
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It could be the fact that someone who won't be looking at the knife at all, never mind looking, feeling and using it multiple times everyday can't expect to quash others opinions about the problems that will bother them on a day to day basis. The problems mentioned have been very polite IMO.

I'm very glad that Buck are willing to stand by their product! Respect to them! Personally, having bought remotely to a family member in the US and then having it shipped abroad to me, together with bad experiences in general with US made knives (Northwoods, GEC, Queen, CSC) , I'm very glad to hear about problems to look out for so that they can be dealt with before it becomes a matter of shipping back and forth internationally or taking a loss on the 2nd hand market which has been my lot to date unfortunately. Information is good. Trying to quash it is not helpful.
 
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Of the dissatisfied posts so far, going by what I personally find acceptable - a couple look like they should go back for repair. At least one looks fine to me, well within normally expected variances in typical pocket knives.

These are, after all, Buck 301s. A $40 pocket knife, just in premium steel and handle material (and missing a blade and spring). The 300 series are sturdy working knives, not really display pieces, so the tooling and processes are probably standardized around that level of tolerance.

Which is great for me - when I ordered mine, I was looking for a good working pocket knife, not a display or collection piece. This one is going to get some pocket time and some wear and tear.
 
abcdef said:
That is a good idea. The porch is a friendly place. Are the Mods willing establish a W&C thread where people can express something less than positive opinions about an issue transpiring on the porch? Will anyone else reading this do it?
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I disagree. Opinions should be aired out here in this thread. Everything is not always positive. I could complain about the scales not being closely matched or the spring. But as I said before, I didn't get this one for a museum piece. On the scale thing on my knife.... if I handled the knife in a retail store, I would have probably asked to see another example or two before choosing. But, I'm okay with it.
 
UnderDawgAl said:
Meanwhile, for one of us here, the forum Buck is the most expensive knife we've ever bought!
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I can see that.
I have a coworker who once spent 2 months talking himself into spending $50 on a game processing knife (the most he had ever spent on a piece of cutlery) - but doesn't twitch over spending $600 on a bow.
 
UnderDawgAl said:
Meanwhile, for one of us here, the forum Buck is the most expensive knife we've ever bought!
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This is why I think the forum knife should be kept at a reasonable cost, so more people will be interested and can participate in getting one. But on the other hand don't want something that's going to be total junk to keep cost down either so everyone can participate. I think this year's forum knife had many desirable qualities to many while still keeping the cost down. I'm not much of a traditional folder guy unless the knives have history to them like war collectibles and stuff, but if next year's is like this one will definitely participate again.
 
Modoc ED said:
Thoroughly sprayed the 2018 Forum Knife down with RemOil, put it in a corrosion resistant plastic sleeve, and put it in it's box along with the info tag it came with, and closed the box flap, probably never to see the light of day again, at least while I'm alive.

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Makes sense to protect her for sure, but, how is the folder compared to the others that have been received?

With trepidation, mine was due this coming Tuesday, just got an update that it will be delivered tomorrow :) I'll be a nervous pup opening that box !
G2
 
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